Knowledge of health-care professionals on tobacco cessation and its related activities

Background: The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced. There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 300 are known to be harmful. A 2015 survey in Italy revealed that 58% of cardiologists correctly indicated smoking as an addiction and 45% regularly advised their patients to stop smoking. Aims: The aim is to assess the knowledge of health care professionals (HCPs) related to tobacco cessation and its related activities. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional, pilot survey on HCPs-30 doctors and 30 nurses was chosen by convenient sampling at a selected tertiary care hospital in New Delhi. Tool: A semi-structured questionnaire contains items to assess knowledge of HCPs regarding tobacco cessation and its activities. Results: 96.3% of doctors and 76% of nurses were 'asked' their patients about their history of tobacco use, respectively. 86.7% of doctors and 70.1% of nurses 'advice' patients to stop tobacco use. 63.3% of doctors and 54.1% of nurses were interested in participating in tobacco cessation training. Conclusion: Most of the HCPs had given brief interventions by 5 'A's method. More tobacco cessation training would be suggested by health-care workers.